Paper support



1943(13- I A. A. JOHNSON 2,

PAPER SUPPORT Filed Ndv. 12, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Jam 22, 1946.' A, A, JOHNS N 2,393,471

PAPER SUPPORT Fild-Nov. 12, 1942 2 Shee'ts-Sheet- 2 Fclgf4 Patented Jan. 22, 1946 um'rso STATES PATENT OFFICE Arthur A. Johnson, Bridgeport, Com, assignor to Autographio Register Company, Hobok'en. N. 1., a corporation of New Jersey Application November 12, 1942, Serial No. 465,365

1'! Claims. (01. 271-23) This invention relates to writing or printing machines and more particularly to improvements in paper controlling devices therefor;

In the use of certain types of machines such as tabulating machines it is not uncommon that it is desired to use the machine for writing on strips of different widths at different times, some classes of work requiring a wide strip and others narrower strips. In such machines, the feed devices are usually separate from the rotary platen on which the paper is supported for writing and are in the form of pinwheels, the pins of which engage rows of feed holes along the lateral ed es of the strips. When it is desired to change from one width of strip to another, the operator adjusts the pinwheels to bring them under the lateral edges of the strip to be used, the pinwheels being adjustable along a feed shaft on which they are mounted.

To support the writing strips between the pinwheels so that they will not unduly sag, it has been proposed to provide a plurality of supporting rollers mounted on the feed shaft between the pinwheels. When the pinwheels are to be adjusted, the supporting rollers must also be adjusted so that they are properly positioned betweenthe pinwheels.

An object of the present invention is to facilitate the readjustment of the paper-feed mechanism to accommodate strips of various widths and for this purpose instead of providing a plurality of paper supporting rollers between the pinwheels, the present invention provides expansible and contractible means substantially filling the space between the pinwheels for supporting the paper. 4

In the form of the invention at present preferred this'means comprises one or more helical coils of wire placed around the feed shaft and extending between the pinwheels and expanslble or contractible depending on whether the pinwheels are moved apart or toward each other. Thus, according to the present invention, it is merely necessary in converting from wide to narrow paper for the operator to loosen the pinwheels from the shaft, move them to the desired positions, and then fasten them again without paying any attention to the paper support for this will be adjusted along with the pinwheels automatically.

iWhen, as above explained, the paper support is made in the form of a helical coil, it will engage and support the paper strips throughout their whole width and not merely at isolated places, as in the case of the paper supporting rollers heretofore proposed. The paper is therefore supported smoothly and substantially in the plane of the pinwheels over its entire width.

In order to lift the leading edge of a pile of record strips upwardly onto the pinwheels it has been proposed heretofore. to provide a centrally disposed corrugated roller midway between the pinwheels and fastened to the feed shaft. In this situation, according to the present invention, instead of having a single helical. coil, two helical coils may be used, one on each side of the corrugated roller and'extending from the latter to the adjacent pinwheel.

While the paper-supporting member of the present invention is particularly useful in connection with pinwheel feeds, it may be used to advantage in any situation where there is a span between paper feeding or guiding means.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings which show several embodiments of this invention- Figure 1 is a sectional view of the paper feed-- ing and guiding portion of a tabulating machine.

, Fig. 2 is a front view of the paper feeding device showing the present invention applied thereto.

Fig. 3 is a disassembled view of a pinwheel, the paper supporting device of the present invention, and an intermediate paper engaging member.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing the pinwheels spread apart and the paper support of the present invention expanded.

Fig. 5 is a similar view, showing a modified form in which the helical spring forming the paper support is supported on the shaft intermediate its ends.

\ Fig. 6 is a view looking at the inside face of one of the pinwheels shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. '7 is an elevation of the spider for supporting the helical coil intermediate'its ends.

Fig. 8 is a face view of the spider shown in Fig. '7.

Fig. 9 shows a modified form of helical coil in which the coil is made of a ribbon wound edgewise.

Fig. 10 is an end view of the coil shown in Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 shows one method of applying the coil to the feed shaft.

Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing but one coil between the pinwheels,

The present invention may. with advantage, be applied, to any form of web feeding device where the paper feeding members are relatively narrow and substantially spaced apart or engage the web without srip ins action so that the paper tends to sag transversely. To illustrate the invention, I have elected to show it as applied to a tabulating machine, the paper feeding portions of which are illustrated in Fig. l.

As shown, the paper strip It (which may include a. plurality of independent strips) is fed from suitable guides I i into engagement with the underside of a pinwheel 12 having around its periphery a series of pins I 3 adapted to engage marginal rows of apertures H in the paper strips. The paper, upon leaving the pinwheel l2, travels downwardly over a paper table it and around a platen l6, then upwardly under a take-up bar l1,

and then over the top of the pinwheel I! where it again is engaged by the pins It. .From the pinwheel II the paper travels rearwardly over a paper table It.

The pinwheels are driven coordinately with the platen by a gear I'B meshing with suitable gearferred such a member is constituted by a helical coil 22 of suitable wire which is placed around the feed shaft and suitably supported thereon so as to be substantially coaxial with the pin-' wheels I! or other feeding devices carried by the shaft. This coil 22 may extend from. ohe pinwheel to the other as shown in Fig. 12. Usually it is preferable to interpose between the pinwheels 9. disk 23 having on its periphery flutes or corrugations to engage and deflect outwardly and upwardly the leading edges of worksheet strips ing connected to the platen and fixed on a feed shaft 20 to which the pinwheels are also secured as by set screws 2|.

The pinwheels I! are dlustably mounted on the feed shaft 20 so that they may be moved closer to or farther from each other to accommodate narrower or wider paper strips l0 (compare Figs. 2 and 4) or to shift them bodily longitudinally of the shaft to any desired position, depending on what part of the platen, or the printing instrumentalities engaging the same, is to be employed .to do a particular kind of work. His not uncommon in the use of typewriters and tabulating machines to use different widths of paper or to differently position the paper, since this permits the same machine to be used with different kinds of work.

Where the paper strip is engaged by relatively narrow feeding devices at the lateral edges of the strip as above described, there'is a tendency for the paper to sag transversely and thus cause improper feeding. If the weight of the paper pile is sufficiently heavy considering the thinness of the individual strips, there is a tendency for the paper to be torn at the holes by the feeding pins with the result'that the paper gradually slips off the Pins and thus renders the feeding inoperative or at least faulty.

diiiiculty can be avoided somewhat by providing disks on the feed shaft having a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the pinwheels and supporting the paper intermediate the pinwheels. However, the provision of these disks has several disadvantages. If there are too few Of them, sagging still results between the disks and the pinwheels, If there are enough of them to prevent this, then the space which they occupy tends to limit the closeness to which the pinwheeLsgmay be adjusted. Besides, when the pinwheels are adjusted to spread them or bring them together, the disks must also be adjusted.

To avoid the sagging of the stretch of the paper between the pinwheels and to obviate the diflicuL- ties attendant upon the'use of paper supporting disks, the present invention provides an expansiso that they will feed over the pinwheels. In such cases it is expedient to provide two paper supporting coils 22 and make each of them of such length as to conveniently extend between one of the pinwheels and the disk 23 as shown .inFigs.2,-iand5.

The springs are so constructed that they have an eifective diameter substantially equal to that of the pinwheels l2 and disk 23 to engage and support the stretch of the paper between these elements. The coil is made of such length that when contracted as shown in Fig. 2 it will occupy a minimum of space and permit the pinwheels I! to be brought together close enough to feed the narrowest strip or pile of sheets required to be fed by engagement withboth lateral margins and when extended to its full length will have its convolutions so closely spaced that no appreciable or troublesome sagging of the paper can occur between the points of contact of the vconvolutions of the coil and the paper.

The coil may, if desired, be tempered or biased to resiliently contract or expand; that is, it may constitute an expansion spring or a compression spring, or it may be substantially nonresilient.

' If it is in the form of a contraction spring or is nonresilient its ends may be passed through holes 24 in the pinwheels l2 and disk 23 and then bent over to form hooks 25 by means of which it may be anchored to the feeding elements to remain more or less extended accordingly as the elements are secured on the shaft 20 farther from or nearer to each other.

If the coil 22 is in theform of an expansion spring in which case its ends will be continuously urged against the feeding elements, it is merely necessary to provide the adjacent sides of the elements with circular recesses 26 and reduce the diameter of the coil at its ends 21, as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 5 so as tofit in these recesses, and thereby be centralized with reference to the feed shaft 20.

With the contraction spring construction (Fig. 4) the feed elements may for convenience be recessed to receive the ends of the spring and if desired the spring may be designed to contract to an intermediate condition or length and then require application of force to contract it the rest of the way.

The spring or coil may be made of metal or a suitable plastic material and it may be round in ble and contractible member, or several of them,

surrounding the feed shaft. and extending between the pinwheels which has an effective diameter supstantially equal to that of the pin- 'wheels and against the various portions of which the paper lies to'be supported in substantially unsagging condition as it is advanced.

In the form of the invention at present precross-section or fiat edge-round as in Fig. 9.

In the event that the spring is extra long or small in cross-section, it may be supported intermediate its length by spider-like members 28 shown in detail'in Figs. 7 and 8. The member 28 has a hub 29 provided with an aperture 30 slidably fitting the shaft 20 and arms 3| having laterally extending fingers 32 to which the wire may be welded or otherwise secured.-

By providing the paper supporting member in the form of a helical coil a light, inexpensive and easily made skeletonized cylinder is produced which adequately supports the paper at all points the pinwheels either both to or from each other,

in Fig. 11', this may be done by twisting the coil so that the first convolution at the open end extends over the shaft and then merely rotating the coil until, one after the other, the convolutions are received by the shaft. The reverse of these operations may be performed to remove the coil from the shaft, if desired.

Variations and modifications may be made within'the scope of, this invention and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

I claim:

1. A paper feeding device comprising a feed shaft, spaced relatively narrow rotary paper feeding devices adjustably mounted on the shaft in positions to engage the paper near its lateral edges, and unitary means extending between the paper feeding means for supporting the stretch of the paper between the same against sagging including an extensible and contractible member carried by the shaft and having an effective diameter throughout the width of the paper substantially equal to that of the rotary feeding d6.-

vices.

2. A paper feeding device comprising a feed shaft, spaced relatively narrow rotary paper feeding devices adjustably mounted on the shaft in positions to engage the paper near its lateral edges, and means extending between the paper feeding devices for supporting the stretch of the paper between the same against sagging including a skeletonized extensible and contractible unitary member carried by the shaft and havin an ef fective diameter throughout the width of the feeding devices.

3. A paper feeding device comprising a feed shaft, spaced relatively narrow rotary paper feeding devices mounted on the shaft in positions to engage the paper near its lateral edges, and means extending between the paper feeding devices for supporting the stretch of the paper between the same against sagging including a helical coil carried by the shaft and having an effective diameter throughout the width of the paper substantially equal to that of the rotary feeding devices.

4. A paper feeding device comprising a feed shaft, spaced relatively narrow rotary pin-bearing paper feeding devices adjustably mounted on the shaft in positions to engage rows of apertures in the paper near its lateral edges, and means extending between said pin bearing devices for supporting the stretch of the paper between the same against sagging including an extensible and contractible member carried bythe shaft and having, an effective diameter throughout the length thereof substantially equal to that of the rotary feeding devices to engage and support the paper throughout the width thereof.

5. A paper feeding device comprising a feed shaft, spaced relatively narrow rotary paper feeding devices mounted on the shaft in positions to engage the paper near its lateral edges; a relatively narrow paper support intermediate said feeding devices; and means for engaging and supporting the stretches of the paper throughout the width thereof between the feeding devices against sagging including extensible and contractible members carried by the shaft extending between each feeding device and the said paper support, and having an effective diameter throughout substantially equal to that of the rotary feeding devices.

"paper substantiallyequal to that of the rotary 6. A paper feeding device comprising a feed shaft, spaced relatively narrow rotary paper feeding devices adjustably mounted on the shaft in positions to engage the paper near its lateral edges, and means for supporting the stretch of the paper between the feeding devices against sagging including a flexible elongatable member surrounding the shaft between said feeding devices and having an effective diameter throughout substantially equal to that of the rotary feeding devices and means adjustable along the shaft for supporting said member on the shaft intermediate its length.

7. A paper feeding device comprising a feed shaft, spaced relatively narrow rotary paper feeding devices mounted on the shaft in position to engage the paper near its lateral edges, and means extending between the paper feeding devices for supporting the stretch of the paper between the sameagainst sagging including an extensible and. contractible helical coil carried by the shaft and having an effective diameter throughout the length thereof substantially equal to that of the rotary feeding devices, said coil having open ends so that it may be applied or removed from the shaft by placing the open end over the shaft and rotating the coil to thread it on or off the shaft.

8. In a paper feeding device having spaced rotary feeding devices, means for supporting a stretch of the paper between the spaced rotary feeding devices against sagging, comprising an extensible and contractible helical coil having an effective diameter throughout the length thereof substantially equal to that of the rotary feeding devices and adapted to be supported by the latter.

9. In a paper feeding device having spaced rotary feeding devices, means for supporting a stretch of the paper between the spaced rotary feeding devices against sagging, comprising an extensible and contractible helical coil of resilient edge wound ribbon, the coil having an effective diameter throughout substantially equal to that of the rotary feeding devices and adapted to be supported by the latter,

10. In a paper feeding device having spaced rotary feeding devices, means for supporting a stretch of the paper between the spaced rotary I shaft, spaced relatively narrow rotary paper feeding devices mounted on the shaft in position to engage the paper near its lateral edges, said devices having recessesin their facing side surfaces, and means for supporting the stretch of the paper between the feeding devices against sagging including a unitary extensible and contractible member surrounding the shaft having an effective diameter throughout the width of the paper substantially equal to that of the rotary feeding devices, and having its ends nested in the recesses of said devices to be thereby located and supported.

12. A paper feeding device comprising a feed shaft, spaced relatively narrow positive feeding devices engaging without gripping the paper to be fed and adjustably mounted on the shaft in. positions to engage the paper near its lateral edges, and means extending between the paper feeding devices for engaging and supporting the stretch of the paper throughout between the paper feeding devices against sagging including an extensible and contractible member carried by the shaft and having an effective diameter throughout substantially equal to that of the rotary feeding devices.

13. A paper feeding device comprising a feed shaft, spaced relatively narrow rotary paper feeding pinwheels adjustably mounted on the shaft in positions to engage the paper in its apertured lateral edges, and means extending between the pinwheels for engaging and supporting the stretch of the paper throughout between the pinwheels against sagging including an extensible and contractible member carried by the shaft and having an effective diameter throughout substantially equal to that of the rotary feeding devices.

14. A paper feeding device comprising a feed shaft, spaced relatively narrow rotary paper feeding pinwheels adjustably mounted on the shaft in positions .to engage the paper in its tipertured lateral edges, and means extending between the pinwheels for supporting the stretch of the paper between the same against sagging including a plurality of extensible and contractible unitary members carried by the shaft and each having an effective diameter throughout 15. A paper feeding device comprising a. feed shaft, spaced relatively narrow rotary paper feeding pinwheels adiustably mounted on the shaft in positions to engage the paper in its apertured lateral edges, andmeans extending between the pinwheels for supporting the stretch of the paper between the same against sagging including a pluralityof helical coil springs carried by the shaft and each having an effective diameter throughout substantially equal to that of the rotary feeding devices and intermediate means connecting and supporting said coil prin s. v

16. A paper feeding device com-prising a feed shaft, spaced relatively narrow paper feeding pinwheels adjustably mounted on the shaft in position to engage the paper in its apertured lateral edges, said pinwheels having recesses in their facing side surfaces, and means for supporting a stretch of the paper between the pinwheels against sagging including a disk recessed on opposite side faces and a plurality of extensible and contractible members surrounding the shaft, each member having an effective diameter substantially equal to that of the pinwheels to engage the paper throughout the width thereof and having their ends nested in the recesses of said disk and pinwheels to be thereby located and supported.

17. A paper feeding device comprising a feed shaft, spaced relatively narrow paper feeding pinwheels adjustably mounted on the shaft in position to engage the paper in its apertured lateral edges, said pinwheels having Srecesses in their facing side surfaces, and means for supporting a stretch of the paper betweenthe pinwheels against sagging including a. disk recessed on opposite side faces and a plurality of helical springs surrounding the shaft, each having an effective diameter throughout substantially equal to that of the rotary feeding devices and having substantially equal to that of the rotary feeding devices and intermediate means connecting and supporting said members.

its ends nested in the recesses of said devices to be thereby located and supported.

ARTHUR A. JOHNSON. 

